Will the new English football regulator be “truly independent”?

There is now little doubt that the UK government will establish a new regulator for English football.

The background will be familiar to LawInSport readers. Appetite for reform has grown in recent years, in the wake of the financial crisis that afflicted Bury Football Club in 2019, the strain on club finances brought on by the pandemic and, above all, the controversy surrounding the attempted creation of a ‘European Super League’ in April 2021. After that furore, the Fan-Led Review of Football Governance recommended the establishment of a new regulator to safeguard clubs’ financial sustainability.

Though the wisdom of the proposal has been debated (particularly towards the top of the pyramid),^[1] that debate now appears to be over. The industry’s focus is now on the design of the new framework.^[2] The previous Conservative government introduced a Football Governance Bill to Parliament in March 2024. The bill did not have time to pass before the election at which the Conservatives were defeated, but Labour’s manifesto promised to reintroduce it,^[3] and the King’s Speech indicates that a new bill on football governance will be introduced in this Parliamentary session.^[4] Labour’s bill is expected to resemble the old one in large part. Like it or not, reform is on the way.

The version of the bill published under the previous government (“the Bill”) provided, in summary, that all clubs will need an operating licence to enter specified competitions, the conditions of which are partly to be set out in statute and partly at the discretion of a new ‘Independent Football Regulator’ (“IFR”) (Cl 15-25). The IFR will also have powers to determine the suitability of owners and officers of regulated clubs (Cl 26-44), ban clubs from entering certain competitions (Cl 45), restrict clubs from disposing of their home grounds (Cl 46) or relocating (Cl 48) and, in some circumstances, intervene in financial distributions between leagues (Cl 55-63).  The significance of that regime for the English game is obvious: vigorous Parliamentary scrutiny of the legislation will be essential.

Indeed, debate on the details of the Bill has already begun. Unsurprisingly, after decades of ‘self-regulation’, the question of the IFR’s independence from central government has emerged as a particular concern.  According to a recent Sunday Times front page, UEFA reportedly has gone so far as to warn that it could ban England from Euro 2028  “if a line is crossed […] in relation to independence from government”.^[5] Theodore Theodoridis, UEFA’s general secretary,  is reported to have referred to “specific rules that guard against [state meddling] in order to guarantee the autonomy of sport and fairness of sporting competition”,^[6] although UEFA is said to have subsequently stressed that exclusion would be a “last resort”.^[7]

The Prime Minister’s answer to these concerns is that UEFA need not worry, because the IFR will be “truly independent” of government.^[8] Unusually for a public body, independence is even in the IFR’s name.  

Independence, both from existing regulators in football and from government, will plainly be central to the regulator’s effectiveness. Yet calling a regulator independent does not make it so. The devil is, as ever, in the legislative detail. Any regulator’s independence from government, in particular, will ultimately turn on the government’s powers to (i) shape regulatory decision-making, (ii) control the regulator’s budget, and (iii) hire and fire the regulator’s people. Those three issues are considered in turn below.

The purpose of this discussion is not to advocate any particular position on the design of the regulator, but to identify some of the key trade-offs and choices that will face those scrutinising or amending the legislation.